Thought I'd begin my research by posting and seeing if there's anyone with knowledge to share...

Went back to play the old favourite but found it a bit clunky. Would like to get back into it, but a fuller mod would be appreciated. How possible is it, anyone know? Being based on the same Genie gaming engine as AOK I would have thought something more than the 1.0c mod might be possible.

For example: Multitasking and flexible camera during pause (as AOK).

AOE Speed helps a little playing a controlled single person game at hard level, but seems to have a a bug saving games, and far from ideal.

OK, I suppose its more a 'patch' - probably a lot more difficult than a run of the mill mod. A software engineer might like to comment...

I don't think you're going to find one really which does improve some elements of the game. While, as a PC game, it does include some interesting additions such as mods to make the game more playable, finding something which completely reworks the game several sequels later up to something closer to modern standards isn't going to be easy. I honestly doubt something like that exists.